Khamzat Chimaev is facing the toughest test of his combat sports career.
“Borz” will fight former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker as part of the upcoming UFC Saudi Arabia fight card, recently made official for Sat., June 22, 2024 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. The winner could top a very short list of eligible 185-pound title contenders.
“Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev in Saudi Arabia, that one is gonna be f**king wild,” UFC color commentator Joe Rogan said on his “Experience” podcast. “That’s a wild one. That is a wild fight. Whittaker vs. Khamzat is legit. That’s a real fight, that’s a real fight for Khamzat because Whittaker is a big dude. Solid, beefy 185 [pounds], former champion. Both guys started at 170 but it was too hard to make it to 170.”
Whittaker, 33, moved up to middleweight back in 2014 after a mediocre run at welterweight. As for Chimaev, 29, the promotion forced him to abandon the 170-pound weight class after his massive scale fail ahead of UFC 279 in Las Vegas.
“That’s a real 185’er as opposed to [when] they gave [Chimaev] Kamaru Usman, and Kamaru didn’t have a chance to prepare for that [fight],” Rogan continued. “He had 10 days. That’s not enough time. This is a big one. This is Robert Whittaker with plenty of time to prepare. A guy who is just as legit as they get. He just beat Paulo Costa. That’s a good fight. I like that.”
Whittaker (25-7) is coming off a unanimous decision win over Costa at UFC 298 last Feb. in Anaheim. Chimaev (13-0) has not seen action since capturing a majority decision victory over Usman as part of the UFC 294 pay-per-view (PPV) last fall.
To see who else is fighting at UFC Saudi Arabia click here.